8 Secrets
Successful entrepreneurship appears to most as a complex equation that cannot be solved by simple means. To others it appears to be a combination of being at the right place at the right time. To me, it is a combination of eight elements, each of which is vital for the success of the enterprise. Today, I am feeling extremely generous and as a result have decided to share my secrets with the world. In this article, I will explain eight secrets to successful entrepreneurship.
The First Secret: Willingness to Pivot
I am willing to change my idea based on data and I believe it is a necessary characteristic in a strong entrepreneur. Customer feedback and market research data are vital in order to make decisions and to make changes in the already made decisions.
Always be ready to listen to customers, they will tell you what they want, and you should base your decisions on the requirements of your customer base. An entrepreneur must consistently assess the situation and be open to pivot shall the need arise. Rigidity is not an option.
The Second Secret: Flexibilities in Execution
Almost anyone can or has come up with great idea, but only skilled entrepreneurs can execute it. An entrepreneur must be flexible and action-oriented when it comes to idea execution. An entrepreneur must recognize that mistakes can often be corrected, but time lost postponing a decision is lost forever. Therefore, decisions must be made promptly and there should always be room for changes in the execution plan.
The Third Secret: Hiring People Better than Yourself
As a manager, I have found that any team you build must consist of the right balance. The team must be diverse, and the team members must have varying strengths which can compensate for their team members’ weaknesses. I have always believed in hiring people who are better than me in their skill and knowledge.
As an entrepreneur, one must know when to stay out the team’s way. You hired them, you assigned their tasks to them, now let them work in peace. Over managing them is a sign of mistrust and can affect productivity and team morale. I believe that an entrepreneur’s time is well spent clearing the road blocks ahead. That can do wonders or the efficiency and can greatly boost productivity.
The Fourth Secret: Strong Will
An entrepreneur must be a strong willed individual. You have to have the ‘I cannot quit’ mentality. If you truly believe that your idea will work, and if there is field data available that supports your notion, then pursue it like there is no tomorrow. Do not make half hearted attempts in hopes of getting lucky. If there are any doubts in your mind, then remove them first before you start execution.
The Fifth Secret: The Perfect Organizational Culture
In all books and journal articles regarding organizational culture, it can be found that that there is no such thing as a perfect culture for all organizations. However, there are ideal cultures for different industries. My idea of a perfect organizational culture is where the employees are equity driven.
The employees must be stakeholders in the company’s future, and should have a share in the profits achieved by the company. The employees must be given responsibilities based on their skill set and aptitude, in other words, everyone must be doing what they like. A person who hates his or her job can be a negative influence on all. The organizational culture should be developed in such a way that all activities are fun and are focused at catering to the customers’ needs.
The Sixth Secret: One Feature Approach
The product/service being offered by any organization has many features. In order to set the organization apart from the rest of the competition, and to gain a competitive edge, one feature approach must be adopted.
Determine the most important feature and do it well, all the while measuring the impact of every other feature. In this way, their inter-relationship can be determined.
The Seventh Secret: The 40% Rule in Decision Making
General Colin Powell, told the army to make decisions based on 40% available information during the war in Iraq. I understand that most people wish to wait for 100% of the facts and figures to come in before they make a decision, but in war and in business, we do not have time on our side.
Therefore, decisions must be made as soon as you have 40% information at hand. Execution of the decision must start immediately. Changes can be made on the go as new information comes in.
The Eight Secret: Google Search Results
Your website must be among the top 5 Google search results for all relevant keywords. Users hate to scroll down and got to the second or third page. In order to gain traffic, you must be among the top 5 search results, there is no way around it.
You can perform SEO to gain organic traffic and can even have your business advertised through Search Engine Marketing (SEM). However, I would always prefer organic traffic over traffic generated through advertisement.
Hopefully, you found my eight secrets to be useful information. Let me know your feedback through comments below:
Ninos Youkhana 